Sunday History Photo / WA

The Perth tramway network served Perth from the end of the nineteenth century until 1958.
According to one source, the central city terminus of the short lived horse tramway was the General Post Office, which was then located within the Treasury Building, at the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street. The outlying terminus was said by the same source to be in East Perth. However, it now seems that, in fact, there was never a horse tram provided for the carriage of passengers in Perth.




Rather, there was – it is believed – a horse tramway which ran from quarries just north of the city to the construction site of Government House situated in St Georges Terrace. For how long the horse tramway survived is not known, nor its exact route, as information has not yet been found, although research continues. It is known, however, that a horse omnibus system did exist
Perth's first electric tram network was inaugurated in 1899. It linked Perth's central business district with many of its inner suburbs, especially on the north side of the Swan River, but was wound down from 1949, and closed in 1958. It had a maximum street mileage of over 30 miles in the 1930s.
The network operated under 35 route numbers, on various lines extending from Osborne Park in the north to Como and Welshpool in the south, and from Claremont in the west to Welshpool in the east.




Some of the trams from the first Perth network are now preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society, at its heritage tramway in Whiteman Park, in the outer Perth suburb of Caversham.



The Fremantle Municipal Tramways began operations in 1905. The network expanded into North Fremantle in 1908, and into Melville in 1915. The North Fremantle line closed in 1938 and was replaced by diesel buses. The rest of the network reached its peak usage during World War II.





After World War II, the system operated quite profitably for the Council. However, the decision of the Western Australian State Government to nationalise the southwest electricity systems from private and council ownership to the newly formed State Electricity Commission in the early 1950s meant that the price of power to the trams increased markedly, to the extent that supply was extremely costly to the Council.
As a result, and without any fanfare at all, the whole system was closed after the last tram ran into the Carbarn in Queen Victoria Street on a Sunday night in November 1952.
Some of Fremantle's former trams are now preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society, at its heritage tramway in Whiteman Park, in the outer Perth suburb of Caversham




A total of 36 trams entered service on the Fremantle tram network between 1905 and 1939. Most of them remained in service until 1949 or later. Unlike their Perth counterparts, the various classes of Fremantle tram were not officially allocated any class designator code. Each individual Fremantle tram was officially identified only by its unique number.
Most Fremantle trams fell into two main classes, with a small transitional group in between.
The first main Fremantle tram class, made up of tramcars 1 to 19, 24 and 25, was of single truck, drop end, open California combination tram cars. They entered service between 1905 and 1914.
The second main class of Fremantle tram was made up of tramcars 26 to 36. They were bogie saloon cars, and entered service between 1921 and 1939.
The dominant colour in the livery of every Fremantle tram was a shade of maroon. The single truck tramcars were also lined with pinstripes, and the bogie trams also painted a cream colour at window level. By Australian standards, Fremantle trams were generally well maintained, right up until the closure of the Fremantle network.
The final new Fremantle tramcar, number 36, was also the last new tramcar to be built for a Western Australian tram network.Together with Fremantle tramcars 14, 28 and 29, it is now preserved by the Perth Electric Tramway Society, at its heritage tramway in Whiteman Park.


Some other locations in WA that operated Trams,

Broome was established as a pearling port in 1880. A horse-drawn tramway was constructed in 1898, for the transport of goods from the jetty at Mangrove Point to the town, and by 1904 a passenger car was in use. Originally built to the 2 ft gauge, the tramway's success led to its regauging in 1907 to 3 ft 6 in, and a passenger car to that gauge was then provided.



Horses were replaced by steam in 1910, petrol and diesel engines being introduced later. The line was finally closed with the establishment of a new deepwater port some miles away from Broome in 1966, the passenger service having already ceased some years earlier.



The Derby tramway was established in 1886. It travelled about 1 mile from the jetty and over extensive mudflats before reaching the town, and continued for a slightly greater distance through the town itself, along the main street. Except on the L-shaped jetty, the line was straight for its whole length.
Unlike most of the coastal tramways, Derby had a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches from the beginning. It was horse powered originally, internal combustion engines being used later - steam was not employed at any stage. The two lightweight passenger cars were eventually replaced by heavier wagons.





By the way.... when I was in Germany 2013 I spent a week with a Facebook friend inthe City of Nurnberg, most people like model trains but Erwin likes Trams, he proudly showed me his set up especially the Adelaide Tram, the Tram with the yellow front. I look forward to seeing his set again this coming July.



A modern light rail line was announced for Perth in 2012 for completion in 2018.


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